1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing apparatuses and methods, input devices and methods, programs, and information processing systems. More particularly, the invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method, an input device and method, a program, and an information processing system that provide a user interface which can be created and operated inexpensively and which allows a user to input a more variety of operational instructions easily by utilizing an identifier which can be partially or entirely changed as image information.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following technique is known, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-322602. A two-dimensional barcode printed on a card or a paper medium is imaged with a camera and the pattern of the imaged barcode is read so that a computer graphics image (hereinafter referred to as a “CG image”) corresponding to the read pattern is displayed on, for example, a television screen as if a three-dimensional object exist on the two-dimensional barcode.
An information processing apparatus that performs the above-described synthesizing processing first specifies the position of the two-dimensional barcode in a three-dimensional space, and also reads information concerning the two-dimensional barcode to specify a CG image object corresponding to the read information. The information processing apparatus then performs image processing so that the CG image object can be superimposed on the two-dimensional barcode in a three-dimensional space to combine the CG image with the captured image. As a result, the image processing apparatus displays a synthesized image as if the CG image object were positioned on the two-dimensional barcode.
Such a technique for creating virtual space images is applied to, so-called “videogames”, played by a user by using a television receiver as a monitor.